Montana’s Free Market Healthcare Renaissance
"DPC clinics are taking off all across Montana. In fact, the number of clinics has doubled since SB 101 was signed into law last year, bringing the total to at least 16 healthcare providers!"
“Innovations like DPC show how the healthcare market is adapting to the needs of patients, bypassing our broken system and building a better doctor-patient relationship.” – Frontier President & CEO Kendall Cotton
Today we released the Free Market Healthcare Hub, a new resource to help patients find verified Direct Patient Care providers operating in Montana. The Hub also links to resources Montanans can use to shop for healthcare from providers that embrace price transparency and free market principles.
Direct Patient Care or DPC should sound familiar as we have long touted its benefits, but for those who aren’t familiar here is a quick recap. DPC is an innovative healthcare model where patients bypass insurance to pay for services directly, often in the form of a low cost membership similar to a gym membership. Thanks to Montana’s 2021 Legislature and Governor Gianforte, Montana passed SB 101 allowing for the most expansive authorization of DPC in the country.
Flashforward to today–DPC clinics are taking off all across Montana. In fact, the number of clinics has doubled since SB 101 was signed into law last year, bringing the total to at least 16 healthcare providers! The average DPC membership fee for comprehensive primary care in Montana is just $77/month. DPC clinics post all their prices online, providing patients with much needed price transparency.
What makes Montana’s law so unique is while other states authorize DPC only for primary care, Montana is the first state in the nation to allow DPC with any health provider. This broad authorization has allowed for physicians, nurse practitioners, naturopaths, pharmacists and specialists to adopt the DPC model and pass the savings on to their patients.
With such a large potential for savings we encourage you to share the DPC locator map and the other resources on the Free Market Healthcare Hub with friends and family. Click HERE to go to the Free Market Healthcare Hub.
For Liberty,
Tanner Avery
The Latest
New Addition to Frontier’s Board of Directors
We are excited to announce our newest board member, Dr. Kathleen Brown!
You probably recognize her name as she frequently writes columns for our Healthcare Viewpoints, but she also runs Montana Dermatology in Kalispell. She has been practicing dermatology for over 21 years and is the leader of the Montana chapter of the Free Market Medical Association. She has become a vocal advocate for the Direct Patient Care model and runs a DPC clinic with her husband Jack Brown.
We are thrilled to have her join our Board of Directors! Welcome Dr. Brown!
Rising Debt
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released a report analyzing the effects of measures that Federal policymakers could take to prevent Federal debt as a percentage of GDP from continuing to climb. They analyzed both raising taxes and cutting government benefits based on the year that they would be implemented.
Our Take: As the U.S. debt climbs, the interest payments on the debt will continue to consume more and more of the nation’s GDP, translating into reduced economic growth in the long run and making it harder to fight inflation. Unless Washington D.C. gets a grip on its addiction to spending we will all pay the price for their reckless actions. The CBO study confirms that we can’t continue to delay addressing the Federal debt, the time for action is now.
Missoula Fire Lab
In a recent video reporters from Newsy went to the Missoula Fire Lab to learn about fire mechanics and what is making today’s fire so catastrophic. The video explains that the mechanics of fire haven’t changed but what has changed is that today’s forests have an uncharacteristically large amount of dense, overgrown, and dry fuel on the forest floor, leading to hotter and more unpredictable fires.
Our Take: The science is clear that many of today’s forests are overgrown due to the suppression of fire over the last 100 years. Active forest management strategies like strategic thinning and controlled burns can help restore our forests to their natural state so that when natural fires do occur they are less likely to be catastrophic, however a number of regulatory barriers prevent foresters from fully using these management tools.